Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm’s upcoming criminal trial has been pushed to April instead of a previously scheduled December start date, a New York judge ruled Friday.
The four-month delay will allow the parties time to hash out a disagreement over expert witness disclosures that began last month, when Judge Katherine Polk Failla of the Southern District of New York (SDNY) ordered the parties to swap information about the expert witnesses they might call upon to testify in the upcoming trial.
Storm’s legal team, led by Brian Klein at Waymaker LLP, pushed back against Judge Failla’s order in an Oct. 14 court filing, arguing that such a disclosure would show the defense’s hand and “greatly prejudice Mr. Storm.”
In addition to potentially hurting Storm’s defense, Klein’s letter to the court suggested that Judge Failla’s ruling may have contravened one of the federal rules that govern criminal proceedings. Essentially, Klein argued that the government cannot legally compel the defense to disclose the names of its expert witnesses unless the defense has requested the same information from the prosecution. Storm’s defense “intentionally made no such request,” Klein wrote, in order to keep their witness list private.
Storm’s legal team has filed a mandamus petition – a request for a court order from a higher court to a lower court to basically force them to comply with a law or cease certain unlawful activity – with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, aimed at overturning Judge Failla’s order. A hearing on Storm’s mandamus petition is set for Nov. 12.
Storm’s trial is now set to begin April 14, and is expected to run for two weeks.
Storm has been charged with three charges connected to his work with crypto mixing service Tornado Cash: conspiracy to facilitate money laundering, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitter, and violating sanctions. He faces up to 45 years in prison if convicted on all counts.
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